Gotcha Day

Well, I hardly know where to begin.  Maybe I should preface this post with a disclaimer:  I have now been up for 37 hours straight, with the exception of a 1 hour nap on the chairs at the Beijing airport, AND, I have become a mother for the 3^rd time under the most bizarre circumstances.  Sooooo, you'll forgive me if this post lacks coherence and accurate spelling.  With that said, I should tell you that as I type this, I am able to see   absolute angel.  Petite.  Bashful.  Quiet--at least for today.  She is perfect.

 

So….the details.  We finally got out of Beijing at 7:30am this morning.  Our flight went smoothly and we arrived in Nanchang at 9:45am.  Got our luggage and loaded on a bus to head for the hotel.  We arrived at the hotel around 10:40, checked in, threw open our suitcases looking for baby toys, cameras, orphanage gifts, toothbrushes and a clean change of clothes.  No time for a shower, mind you, and if you knew how much we sweat yesterday at the Temple of Heaven, you would be seriously disgusted.  Showers became a low priority, however, when we knew our babies were waiting across the street from the hotel.  We huddled together and bravely crossed 8 lanes of traffic—it was real-life Frogger.  Nobody stops for pedestrians.  Nobody. 

 

We headed up to the 26^th floor of a building, walked down a hall and into a room and there were babies everywhere.  We all just started scanning the room for our own.  I was looking and looking around, and panic began to well up in me as I realized I must not recognize my own child.  Great—failed already, haven't even met her yet!  My friend Maria tapped me on the arm and said, "there she is".  She was sitting with an escort behind me.  I knew instantly that it was her..  Phew.  She came to us with no crying, no resistance whatsoever.  In fact, she was very low-key about the whole thing.  Some babies were crying, some were laughing.  She was neutral.  And she was burning up.  Now, it is HOT here, and the room was sweltering, but later today we determined she had a fever.  Some food, some Tylenol and a bath have her feeling great now.  We got some little smiles during her bath as she figured out how to work the stacking cups, and Ty and I just found a tickle spot and got some very sweet laughs out of her.  She is loving the toys we brought.  She just sits very contentedly and investigates them. 

 

Ok, so she does not walk and we learned today that she was the only child in her foster family, and the woman never put her down.  It is obvious that she has never spent time on her tummy.  So, I would say she is a few months behind, but she is very inquisitive and very sweet.  She makes great eye contact with everyone, and notices when someone leaves. 

 

That's all for now.  Time to get some rest.  Here are a few pictures.  Thanks for all the prayers.   We can really feel them!  More later when I can think straight.

 

 Sorry, we will put up pictures tomorrow.  Technical difficulties.